42. Marked for Gold: ALBERT VON EINSIEDEL: Olympic Marksman, Asian Games Medalist

One of the top marksmen of the country from the late 1930s to the 1950s was the sharp-shooting ALBERT  VON EINSIEDEL who had the distinction of competing for the Philippines in  shooting sports at both the world Olympics and the continental Asian Games.

 Born on 14 May 1917 to German Albert H. von Einsiedel and Filipina Lucia Salamanca, the young Albert developed an early interest in shooting, which he mastered as a student of the University of the Philippines. In 1936, U.P. shooting standout, Martin Gison, became the first and lone representative of the country in shooting at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he nearly medalled, placing 4^th in the small-bore rifle event.

 This spurred more Physical Education students to sign up for the school’s shooting program. So, while  Einsiedel was learning folk dancing steps, he was also becoming adept in both rifle and pistol shooting where he trained religiously at the U.P. range,  until he became a deadeye in both disciplines.

After 1936,  Einsiedel showed that he, too, was capable of becoming a world-class shooter.  The U.P. Shooting Team then held regular competitions against members of the National Rifle and Pistol Association of the Philippines, which counts ace shooters from the military, as well as sports hunters and shooting hobbysts. In one such meet on 31 Oct. 1937, Einsidiel placed 4^th among the state shooters in the Rifle .22 caliber, helping U.P. win over the N.R,P.A, shooters. In the Pistol .22 caliber, he placed 3^rd , resulting in a tie with the more seasoned N.R.P.A. team.

 The next year, on the 27^th of February, the versatile all-around U.P. athlete earned a pistol championship title, by winning the Philippine Exposition .22 caliber pistol championship, sponsored by the N.R.P.A. held at the Pureza shooting grounds, with a score of 493 x 600. Highly-regarded Felix Cortes shot a score of 484 x 600 to garner second place, nosing out Ramon Villamor, who took third with 483 x 600. The course fired was 60 shots at 80 meters on the 50 meter target.

 But as every country, including the Philippine Commonwealth, was gearing up for the 1940 Olympics, the war intervened, cancelling not only the games scheduled in Japan, but also the 1944 edition in London. When the war ended, there was a slow return to normalcy, as rebuilding began. The government resumed its operations, the economy was restarted,  and schools reopened. Sports training went back into full swing and our nation’s athletes began to look forward to competing at the 1948 London Olympics.

The 1948 National Shooting Championships, held in February and March, were the first to be held since the outbreak of the war, and served as try-outs for the Olympics. Ten individual matches were held to determine the members of the shooting team. Einsiedel had already installed himself as one of the favorites of the meet, and he lived up to expectations.

 In the first event, Einsiedel had no trouble in beating a large field of free pistol experts by scoring a creditable 521 out of a possible 600 points. In Event no. 2, Einsiedel snuck into the winners’ circle, placing third in the 3-Position small-bore rifle with a score of 508, behind winner Higinio Pacaña, and ahead of 4^th placer Gison. Next, he landed 5^th in the small bore rifle 60 Shots Prone at 50 m., and 7^th in the 45 cal. National Match Course. In the Center Fire National Match Course, he placed 5^th, but came back in the next 2 events placing 1st in both the Olympic Free Rifle (3 positions) and the Navy Cup Match -20 Shots Military offhand.

Only 3 shooters would end up being part of the Philippine Olympic shooting team: Martin Gison ( 25 m. pistol, 50 m. pistol); Cesar Jayme (50 m. rifle), and Albert von Einsiedel (50 m. pistol, 50 m. rifle). Einsiedel was chosen to captain the lean, but mean shooting team in London.

In the Free Pistol, 50 metres event, Einsiedel ended up in 26^th place among 50 shooters, trailing Martin Gison who was ranked 25^th. The two were the highest placed Asians, with the Lebanese entry, Khalil Hilmi, in last place. The winners were  Edwin Vasquez (Gold, Peru),  Rudolf Snyder (Silver, Switzerland) and Torsten Ullman (Bronze, Sweden).            

 Einsiedel fared better in the Small-Bore Rifle, Prone, 50 m., placing 22^nd ,with a score of 591, among 71 athletes. His teammate Cesar Jayme also did very well, landing among the top 20 finishers, in 17^th place with 593 points. Gison could only pace 43^rd, with 585 points. Americans went 1-2 with Arthur Edwin Cook and Walter Tomsen winning Gold and Silver with identical 599 points, new world records.  Jonas Jonsson of Sweden won the Bronze with 597 score.

After the Olympics Einsiedel finished his university schooling and became a Physical Education instructor at the American School (the future International School) in Manila. He was still active in shooting until that time, and when Manila was chosen as the site of the 2nd Asian Games in May 1954, an issue arose as to the amateur status of active athletes employed as teachers. As it turned out, it was clarified that teachers were not considered pros at all. The ruling was announced rather late, leaving  Einsiedel only 4 months to train for the Asian Games.

 His first event was the Free Pistol, where he lost by a whisker to  Japanese Choji Hosaka, settling for the Silver Medal. But it was a different story in the 50 m. Rifle Prone, which he topped—followed by team mates Cesar Jayme and Martin Gison for an all-Filipino sweep of the shooting event. The Philippines amassed 4 Golds, 4 Silvers and 4 Bronzes from the Manila Asiad, the best-performing country in shooting sports.

Albert von Einsiedel was married to the former Luz Alabastro with whom he had 2 sons, Nathaniel and Albert Jr., He passed away in August 1999 at age 82.

SOURCES:

Maj. Carlos Quirino, 1948 National Shooting Championships, The Filipino Athlete, Vol. IX, No. 3, may 1948, p. 8-12.

 “Einsiedel Captures Pistol Championship”, The Tribune, 1 Mar. 1938, p. 10

 “U. P. Rifle Shots Win Over N.R.P.A”, The Tribune, 3 Nov. 1937. P. 9

 London 1948 Shooting 50m rifle prone 60 shots men Results, https://www.olympics.com/en/olympic-games/london-1948/results/shooting/50m-rifle-prone-60-shots-men

 London 1948 Shooting 50m rifle prone 60 shots men Results, https://www.olympics.com/en/olympic-games/london-1948/results/shooting/50m-rifle-prone-60-shots-men

 Shooting at the 1954 Asian Games, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_at_the_1954_Asian_Games

 The Marksman, August 1939 issue, https://repository.mainlib.upd.edu.ph/omekas/files/original/28d401e3ff35f8f38f8315c0ae88c4a722ca0e4a.pdf

 Albert von Einsiedel, geni.com

36. VIVENCIA SUBIDO, Champion Javelin Thrower of the '50s

VIVENCIA SUBIDO is a petite well-turned out athlete from Cebu Institute of Technology, known for its roster of nationally-ranked female athletes. At the 1954 2nd Asian Games in Manila, she reached the finals of the Women’s Javelin Throw and captured the only Bronze medal in that field event with a heave of 123 feet 2 inches. Two Japanese women were ahead of her, Akiko Kurihara (Gold, 144.5 ft. ) and Yasuko Inden (Silver, 139.63 ft.). Her team mate, Francisca Sanopal, placed 5^th (118.67 ft.), and she later shifted to the 80 m. low hurdles that allowed her to gain entry to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

In two meets in Formosa in 1953, Subido won Gold medals in Tai Chung and Kao Hsiung. Thirteen years after, in the 1966 Bangkok Asiad, Marcelina Alonso duplicated her feat by winning Bronze in the same field event.

SOURCES: 

Progress Magazine, 1955 edition

Athletics at the 1954 Asian Games,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1954_Asian_Games

18. Asia’s Fastest Woman of 1958: INOCENCIA SOLIS

She was just 5 feet 2 inches on her bare toes, but on the cinder track, INOCENCIA S, SOLIS stood taller, stronger, faster on her feet. Throughout the postwar years, she was a stand-out track star, specializing in the sprints, relays, and even broad jump. In all her Philippine representations in 3 consecutive Asiads, she came home with medals in all 3 colors. So formidable was she, that her records endured for years,  taking over a decade for emerging athletes to break her sprint clockings.

Born on Holy Innocents Day (28 Dec. 1932) to Victorio Solis and Leonarda Silomenio, Inocencia grew up with a farming family that valued hard work. She was a product of local schools—New Lucena Elementary School and Santa Barbara High School—where she was exposed to athletics, while dreaming of becoming a teacher someday.

At the 1950 National Inter-Scholastic Athletic Association Meet (NISSA), Solis, coached by Apolonio Japitana, came home with 3 Golds in record times in the 100 m., 200 m. dash, and the running broad jump event. The 18 year old teener’s rise to athletic prominence had just begun.

Cebu Institute of Technology, which has a powerhouse roster of nationally-ranked student athletes, took an interest on Solis and offered her a college scholarship. She  accepted and began her Elementary Education course, while she began her athletic training under new coach Fructuosa Soriano.

In the next few years, Solis began stamping her class in elite athletic meets like the PRISAA Meet and the National Open in 1953. She proved her worth when she qualified to be part of the national team for the second Asian Games to be held in the Manila capital, Philippines from May 2-5, 1954.

She served notice of her potential when she became one of only two female Filipina athletes to win a medal for an individual event, scoring a Bronze in the 200 m. dash (26.5 sec., new PH record)) after 2 Japanese (Midori Tanaka and Atsuko Nambu, Gold and Silver respectively). (Incidentally the other Filipina individual Bronze winner was her Cebu schoolmate, Vivencia Subido in Javelin). Solis also earned a Team Bronze with Rogelia Ferrer, Manolita Cinco and Roberta Anore (50.4 secs.)

Solis continued to make news in the local athletics scene with the holding of the National Open Championship in athletics in 1957. There, as a top member of the crack  CIT team, she swept competition away in the sprints, winning Gold in the 100 and 200 m. dashes, with clockings of 12.4 and 27 secs. flat, respectively. Then, she teamed up with Visitacion Badana, Lucrecia Casorla and Francica Sañopal to win the 4x100 m. relay race in a new record of 49.6 seconds---the first time that Filipinas broke the 50 sec. barrier for that event, and of only 2 track events broken in the meet. 

As a tune-up to the Asian Games of 1958, Solis bannered the CIT team at the 1958 National Open Track & Field Championship held at the Rizal track-and-football stadium in Manila. The event was spiced by the presence of international entries like Nationalist China, Clark Air Force Base, the Fifth Air Force, and Tachikawa Air Base. Solis swept the 100 m. and 200 m. sprints, and snagged a Bronze in the 4 x 100 m. relay with teammamtes Visitacion Badana, Lucrecia Casorla , and Francisca Sanopal. 

Fresh from her triumphs at the National Open, Solis went to the 3rd edition of the Asian Games in Tokyo brimming with extra-confidence, and it was there that she shone the brightest.At the finals of the 100 m at the National Stadium, Solis was unheralded, based on her poor showing in the qualifying heats. All eyes were on Sakura Fukuyama and Yuko Kobayashi of Japan, But she stunned the crowd when she hurtled off the blocks and crossed the finish line first—in 12.5 seconds, a new Games Record, relegating the 2 Japanese to 2^nd and 3^rd.

Thus was Solis crowned Asia’s fastest in 1958. As a bonus, the quartet of Solis, Rogelia Ferrer, Irene Penuela and Francisca Sanopal nabbed the Silver in the 4 x100 m. relay. The Philippine Sportswriters Association acclaimed her as 1958 Athlete of the Year.

Solis would return to her last Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 1962. By then, she was 30 years old, and had given way to an emerging track star, the 19 year-old Mona Sulaiman. The veteran Solis teamed up with Aida Molinos, Francisca Sanopal, and Sulaiman to rule the 4 x 100 m. relay—contributing a precious Gold to the Philippines’ medal harvest.

A little over a week after the Games, Solis, representing the Bureau of Public Schools Interscholastic Athletics Association (BPSIAA), established a new Philippine record in running Broad Jump at the National Open Championships on 12 March 1954, with a distance of 5.209 meters (17 ft. 1 1/8 inches)

She was also a dominant force in the tour of Formosa after the Asian Games, where she won 5 sprints and took 2 gold medals in the broad jump, a fitting punctuation to her incredible athletic journey.

Solis pursued a teaching and coaching career in Cebu in the late 50s, then moved to Manila in the 60s to work with the city government of Caloocan. She helped coach the women's athletic team to the 1970 Asiad in Bangkok. Nothing much was known about Inocencia Solis after that, but in 1998, her names surfaced when she was awarded by Pres. Fidel V. Ramos  the 1998 Distinguished Filipino Woman Achiever in Sports Philippine Centennial Celebration.

On 4 November 2001, Solis passed away at the Iloilo Mission Hospital due to diabetes complications. She was 69 years old. In 2016, she was accorded the ultimate honor of being inducted to the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

SOURCES:

1955 PROGRESS Magazine Supplement

Athletics at the 1954 Asian Games, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1954_Asian_Games

Athletics at the 1958 Asian Games, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1958_Asian_Games

“Solis, former Asiad sprint queen, dies”, by Nerio C. Lujan, The Philippine Star, https://www.philstar.com/sports/2001/12/13/143437/solis-former-asiad-sprint-queen-dies

15. PONCIANO SALDAÑA, 1954 World Cup Basketball Hotshot

PONCIANO “Pons”SALDAÑA  (b. 19 Nov. 1928) comes from the well-known Saldañas of Guagua, a family that played a big role in developing the town’s economy through their fishpond and cigarette industries .  His  family line relocated to Iloilo in the 40s, but "Ponching" stayed on in Manila for his studies. He enrolled at San Beda where he became a popular campus figure for his basketball skills. He graduated in 1948--a batchmate of the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. His ECOS yearbook described Pons as "silent, dignified and religious....with a rare technique for bewitching people."

Saldaña remained in San Beda for his college education, where he took up B.S. in Commercial Science. He was elected Class President in his Freshman and Sophomore years, and served as well as an officer of the Students'  Chamber of Commerce. He graduated in 1952.

In his 4 years in college, Saldaña was a stand-out varsity basketball player of the San Beda College Lions serving first as a Skipper (1947-1951) and  Team Captain, leading the Red Lions to the 1951-52 NCAA Championships as well as the National Open Championships.  The team was coached by Antonio Rius and Olympian Fely Fajardo. Early on, he was known for his shooting prowess in the court, and was part of the team that ended the Letran Knights unbeaten streak of games in 1950.

After graduation, he played for Philippine Airlines in the MICAA (Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association) games. In 1952, Saldaña was named to the national basketball team, which played at the Helsinki Olympics, placing 9th place overall, a respectable showing. He was a consistent double point-shooter against power teams from Argentina and Brazil.

At the 1954 Asian Games in Manila, the national team bagged Gold, beating toprated South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. The Asian victory paved the way for a ticket to the 1954 FIBA World Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Included in the team were Bedan schoolmates Caloy Loyzaga, Tony Genato and Rafael Barretto. Newspapers reported how the speedy Saldaña scored 20 points in the team’s match against Israel, thus putting the Philippines up for the finals.  The Philippines won a historic Bronze in the tourney, behind USA and host country Brazil, the best finish by an Asian nation in FIBA history.

In his later years, Pons Saldaña married Dra. Alice Tayag, a UST medical graduate of Concepcion, Tarlac and made their residence in Tabucan, Iloilo, where they owned and managed Isla Naburot, a nationally-famous island resort in Guimaras. His wife also worked as Chief Pathologist of St. Paul's Hospital in Iloilo City. Their children include a son, Boy, a proficient golfer, and Anne, a chef who currently manages the Naburot resort.

On the other hand, Saldaña had a successful post-basketball career himself. He was named provincial manager of the Philippine Air Lines in Iloilo, a position he held before succumbing to a heart attack in Makati on 21 Jul. 2006.

SOURCES:

Christian Bocobo, Beth Celis, Legends and Heroes of Philippine Basketball, “Ponciano

13. World and Olympic Weightlifting Record Setter: RODRIGO DEL ROSARIO

RODRIGO DEL ROSARIO  (b. 11 Jun. 1917) was a 3-time Olympian from Cabangan, Zambales. Standing only 5’4”, he never won an Olympic medal but he broke Olympic and world records in his long career.

Physical culture and weightlifting were already established sports by the mid 1930s, and interest peaked when menfolk were required to do military training as a looming war approached. Del Rosario discovered weightlifting in Manila, and he came under the training of the Ben Gallegos Club which had a gym in Sta. Mesa, Manila. The Club also held regular weightlifting tournaments and fielded qualified members to the National Weightlifting Championships. It was in these championships that Del Rosario began making his mark.

At the nationals held in Cebu on 21 Mar. 1948, Del Rosario, competing in the featherweight division, managed a total of 712. 2 lbs. in 3 lifts. He also made a lift of 236.2 lbs. in the military press. These broke the world records established by American lifter Bob Higgins at the Philadelphia Championship in Sep. 1947, where he lifted 231.5 lbs. in military press, and a 3-lift total of 638.5 lbs.

His peak was at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he came closest to winning a weightlifting medal when 110 lbs. Del Rosario placed fourth in his featherweight division. He pressed 105 lbs . in the (231 ¼ ) lbs. which was declared an Olympic Mark, surpassing the previous record of Jafar Salmasi of Iran . This also equaled that year’s world mark. His combined lifts, adding his 92.5 kilos in the snatch (203 ¾ lbs.), and 120 kilos in the jerk (264 ½ lbs), totaled 317.5 kilos  (699 ½ lbs), trailing the Bronze medalist R. Wilkes of Trinidad, by just 5 pounds.

Del Rosario may have lost the Bronze by a whisker, but the record he set for the press lift remains the first and only Olympic record set by a Filipino, which caught the attention of international lifters. He reset this world record in the press lift to 108.75 kg. (or  239.75 lbs.) at the 1954 Asiad in Manila. The record, though, lasted just for 6 days, surpassed thrice by international lifters.

Like all carry-over athletes from the thirties, he continued to join competitions past his peak, finishing second in his class in the 1955 National Champioships. Del Rosario has always found the 2-hand snatch an enigma and he was unable to lift over 200 pounds, that thwarted his 1955 title hopes.

Pushing 40, Del Rosario made it to his 3^rd Olympics in Melbourne in 1956, along with fellow lifter Pedro Landero. He failed to lift his clean and jerk portion, so he was not ranked for his incomplete lifts.

Del Rosario became a trainer of young weightlifters and coached the 1968 Philippine Weightlifting Team to the Mexico Olympics.  His last competition was in the World Weightlifting Championships  in Columbus, Ohio in 1970. By dint of good luck, he was awarded 1^st place in the flyweight division after the Top 3 lifters were disqualified for drug use.

After his competitive years were over, Del Rosario took on a job as a security officer at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, where retired athletes would congregate at the P.A.A.F. office. He continued mentoring young weightlifters including his nephew Salvador del Rosario who would win a world title, paving the way for a stint at the Olympics in 1968 and 1976. His son Arturo, followed suit, becoming an Olympian in 1972 and 1976.

Rodrigo del Rosario, our finest Olympic strongman, died on 10 October 2009, at the venerable age of 92.

SOURCES:

Olympedia, https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/56487

Progress 1955, Report on Postwar Sports

Abesamis, M. E. 13 Oct. 1968, The Sunday Times Magazine, “All the Weights for Gold” 13 Oct. 1968. p. 30

1952 Official Olympic Report, LA 1984 Digital Collection

Alex R. Castro, FilipiKnow. 13 Sports Legends Who Proved Filipinos Are Kickass Athletes, https://filipiknow.net/legendary-filipino-athletes-in-sports-history/